


The Last Prince of Cardolan

by Rune_Vanyarin



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Online, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Blood, Gen, Gore, Poetry, alliterative verse, but I'm not sure if this warrants the use of the Major Character Death warning?, but it's all pretty minor, just what you'd expect from a poetic account of a battle, so again I'm not sure if this quite falls under the "graphic depictions" of the archive warnings, so there's death, this recounts the fall of the titular character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2301725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rune_Vanyarin/pseuds/Rune_Vanyarin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an alliterative poem I wrote a few years back for the weekly Ales and Tales event on LotRO's Landroval server. There's a quest in the game where you go rescue a Hobbit girl who went running off into the Barrow Downs after hearing Butterbur tell an old story about a prince. The story itself isn't told in the game, but it's pretty clearly a standard Sleeping King tale, and the fall of Cardolan's last prince is attested in some of Tolkien's works.<br/>I felt that Butterbur's story needed to be given form, but we all know Butterbur isn't the world's greatest scop, so I told the story as a Rohirrim might tell it, in solid old alliterative verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Prince of Cardolan

Lo! Long ago  in times now lost  
Ere Bree was built  on the broad fields  
Ere Hobbit delved  his holes in the hills  
Ere Elf walked the  eaves of the Old Forest,  
Ancient Cardolan reigned,  a kingdom of Arnor  
Spires on walls,  cities on fields,  
Towering castles  ruled by Princes and Kings.  
But peace could not prosper;  armies poured from the North  
War was waged  against the Witch-King's rule.  
Bravely fought Cardolan  but fate betrayed her  
Armies of Angmar  swept over the walls  
The forces of Rhudaur  ruined Cardolan's roads  
Blood ran in rivulets  between the bricks of the walls.  
  
The Prince of Cardolan  courageously stood;  
The last of his line  he stood long against Angmar  
Valiant he fought  yet was vanquished at last  
By the Witch-King's black arts  his bravery failed him  
His will was shattered,  his spirit was shaken  
Though not slain, he swooned  into sleep unbroken.  
  
As fell the Prince,  so waned his power  
Cardolan fell  to the Angmarim foe.  
The last of her people  were left without ruler  
The remnant took  refuge in the Old Forest's realm.  
They buried their Prince  asleep in a barrow  
Thinking him slain  they sang his lament.  
In the Forest they hid  forgotten by friends  
Until wind from the South  wrought their undoing;  
A plague-wind from Mordor  withered the people  
Their cities lay empty,  their fields lay abandoned  
The people dwindled  as death took them all  
The barrows filled  with plague-stricken bodies,  
But the evil curse  had not yet run it's course.  
By fell magic and spells  the Dead walked the moors  
Driven forth from their graves  under pale, gibbous moon  
  
Cardolan lay forgotten  the kingdom unremembered  
Time threw down the towers  to dust they returnèd  
Men came from far lands  and found fields to their liking  
Bree was built  among Cardolan's bones  
  
And still the Prince sleeps  beneath earth and stone  
His name lost with his kingdom  he sleeps his cursed sleep  
Dreams in his barrow  of ancient battles forgotten  
He waits to be wakened  by a wandering maiden  
For his curse to be ended  and his kingdom to rise.  
He waits for a queen  to rule Cardolan with him  
That the majesty of old  might return once again  
And raise his fallen people  to defeat Angmar's plague.


End file.
